CBI arrests Colonel, 3 others in bribery case

A colonel has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 50,000 from a Pune-based private company for supply of rock splitting equipment.

The probe agency also arrested three officials of the company.

Col Shaibal Kumar posted in Planning and Engineering branch of the Kolkata-based Army’s Eastern Command, Sharat Nath, Managing Director of Pune-based Xtech Equipment Pvt Ltd, Vijay Naidu, a Director in the company and Amit Roy, a company representative were arrested by the CBI.

“It was alleged that the colonel had demanded a bribe of Rs 1.8 lakh from the managing director of the company in connection with the supply of power pack rock splitters, which are used by various field formations of the army,” CBI spokesperson R K Gaur said.

He said it is alleged that the army officer, in February this year, had received a bribe of Rs 50,000 and as part of the second instalment, the colonel has now accepted Rs 50,000 from the accused company.

“The CBI tracked the director of said private company who came from Pune to deliver the bribe to colonel and nabbed him after the payment of bribe to the army officer. The CBI caught the colonel and recovered the bribe amount from hisresidence,” he said.

Searches have been conducted in four premises at Pune and two premises at Kolkata, the CBI said.